


i'll be your confidante

by perfectlyrose



Series: a young mountain and a strange girl [5]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Ficlet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-23
Updated: 2016-02-23
Packaged: 2018-05-22 17:41:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6088618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perfectlyrose/pseuds/perfectlyrose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John gets a call in the middle of the night while on Christmas holidays.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i'll be your confidante

**Author's Note:**

> fifth in the "a young mountain and a strange girl" series
> 
> warning: heavier emotions this time around. john's harboring suspicions about abuse and a not-so-happy home life for Rose so if that's something you'd prefer to avoid, just kinda skip over this installment.

He’d been back at home with his aunt for almost a week on Christmas holidays before he heard from Rose. It was almost three in the morning when his mobile started buzzing on the nightstand.

“Hello?” he mumbled into the speaker as he punched the answer button.

“Doctor.”

John sat straight up in bed, instantly awake as he registered Rose’s voice and the fact that it sounded like she was crying. “Rose, what’s wrong?”

She sniffled. “Nothing more than usual, I guess.”

“Rose...”

“I hate being back in this house,” she whispered after a few moments. “It’s not home. It never was and I wish I never had to come back here.”

Rose had never shared much of her home life with John, not in high school and not since they’d reconnected at uni, but he’d always suspected it wasn’t good.

All he knew was that she was an orphan like him. But where he had lucked into an aunt who was willing to take him and raise him and love him, Rose had been foisted off on some second cousin or first cousin once removed or something that after her mum had died when Rose was ten or so. From the bits and pieces he’d gathered from her offhand comments, her guardian had no interest in raising a child.

“Do you need me to come get you?” he asked, already hunting around his room for a shirt and some shoes.

She huffed out a laugh and John’s heart constricted at how bitter she sounded. “I dealt with this for years without you, John. I can survive another couple weeks.”

“I’m not saying you can’t, but I am offering my help if you want it,” he shot back. 

She took a deep breath then let it all out. “I’ll be okay, I just needed to talk to you.”

“I’m here and I’m listening.”

She started asking him how his holidays were going. He regaled her with tales of him and his aunt failing at most of the cooking they’d tried so far and the trouble they’d had getting the tree up and decorated, anything he could think of that might make her laugh.

Her voice got stronger as the call went on and forty-five minutes on, they’d fallen into a brief, comfortable silence as the conversation hit a natural lull.  He could picture her curled up in bed chewing on her nails, chipped polish flaking off as she held her phone to her ear and he couldn’t help but smile a bit.

“Thank you for picking up and talking to me, Doctor,” Rose said quietly, almost as if she was afraid of breaching the silence.

“Anytime, Rose. You know that.” There were other words he wanted to say, words that would name the feeling that filled his heart whenever he thought about her but they would have to wait until he saw her in person. She deserved that.

(She deserved the whole universe, in his opinion, and he was going to do his damnedest to give her as much of it as he could, even if she didn’t think she was worth it.)

“You’re too good to me.” Her voice was fragile again and he wished he could reach across the space separating them to pull her into his arms.

“I’m not,” he argued. “I’m just waiting for you to realize how out of my league you are.”

“Always knew that,” she said breezily, her bravado reappearing and mostly taking the quiver out of her voice.

“You sure you’re okay?” he asked seriously. “I’ll drive down and get you if you want me to. Your wish is my command, Rose.”

“It’s at least a four hour drive, Doctor.”

“That’s not an issue and that wasn’t an answer,” he pressed.

“I’ll be okay,” she said. “If that changes I’ll let you know and let you come be my knight in shining armor.”

“More like a beat up blue car but I’ll take it,” he quipped, drawing a small giggle from her.

“I’ll talk to you soon, John. Give my love to your aunt and tell her I haven’t forgotten that she promised me a batch of cookies back in high school that I never got.”

John chuckled. “I’ll be sure to let her know.”

“Goodnight then, Doctor. Miss you.”

“I miss you too. Goodnight, Rose.”

Hopefully she really would call again soon and maybe, just maybe, she’d let him in and let him know what she’d been so upset about when she called.


End file.
